She made it - bags and all!!!!

After 6 tiring days wandering around the palaces and attractions of London, my mother finally stepped onto American soil yesterday afternoon, with her plethora of bags! Liesel, Nathan and I left Cleveland before 8am in order to be at the airport on time. The Rendezvous (our car) went like a dream and transported us effortlessly through the beautiful countryside of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania's state motto must surely be "The Toll Road State". Despite forking out various tolls throughout the state, Liesel and I had a good laugh when we passed a sign board that read: Your toll money at work. This road construction project completed one year ahead of schedule. We look at each other and almost in union said "That's something you will NEVER see in Africa!" Those of you from South Africa know exactly what we were talking about ;-) To cut a long story short, after a few wrong turns (DC is not the world's best signposted city), we arrived at the airport 20 mins after my mom's plane landed. Unbeknown to us, the customs and immigration process is painfully slow, and she only made her debut appearance in the American public area at around 3:30pm!!! It was good to see her again and Nathan took to her immediately!

We checked into our hotel later that afternoon and were very impressed with the our new accommodation! Our room has a stand-alone kitchen, with a dining room and lounge suite. You then go through some doors to a passage with the bedroom (2 queen size beds) on one side and the bath room on the other. Our views are impressive to, being on the 7th floor! We have the Washington Monument rising up a few blocks away and the US Capital building is also visible.

After unloading the car, we took our first walk due south. We walked alongside the Vietnam Memorial, and then onto the Lincoln Memorial, all now lit up as the sun quickly retreated to its early winter resting place. We could also see the majestic Washington Monument standing proudly with its flawless mirrored image in the Reflecting Pools beneath the full moon. Awesome!

Today we made our way to Arlington National Cemetery. It is always a very humbling and moving experience visiting this place. Today we took the tour bus to all the key sites within the Cemetery and learnt some fascinating facts about various events in history. For instance, did you know that the ground was broken for the building of the Pentagon on September 11, 1941. I filed that fact under my "Things that make you go hmmmmm" mental folder! I also witnessed the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier for the first time. Talk about dedication and precision! Definitely the highlight of my day! Before heading home for lunch, we stopped at the Iwo Jima Memorial.

This afternoon, while Nathan napped and Liesel watched him, my mom and I went for the tourist trek! We walked 6 blocks to the White House, and headed South to the Washington Monument. From there another walk to the World War II Memorial, then past the Reflecting Pools and finally to the Korean War Memorial. From there we made pitstops at a few roadside vendors. After recharging our batteries with a cup of hot chocolate, made our way back to the hotel! What a day! Tomorrow we plan to hit a few of the museums in Washington, and then back up north to where a snow covered landscape should be welcoming us in Cleveland on Tuesday!

So stay tuned for future episodes, and find out if my mom survive the Ohio winters!